Tune In. Turn On. Drop Dead.

A year ago, I columnized in favor of legalizing–and taxing–marijuana. I proposed this as a rare gift from us Baby Boomers to our children: if we went stoned into that good night, there’d be a lot less kvetching about our aching backs and reflux and incontinence. We might make fewer needless, self-involved trips to the doctor, thereby solving the health care crisis. It might also put a significant dent in the budget deficit. I proposed the slogan above as our battle cry.

Well, big surprise: marijuana use is increasing among the elderly. We are in the process of a back-door legalization, sweeping from the libertarian west to the east. Newspapers have begun to hire marijuana critics.